Is Your God Big Enough?
In my work as a minister I often am asked "How can we know that God exists?" Usually this question is followed by: "How can there be a God who allows terrorist attacks, global warming, poverty, inequality and all the ills of the world?" More than a few people I speak with seem to blame God for the actions of humankind as if a just God should save us from ourselves. God has granted us the most wonderful of gifts - the gift and Divine Right of Free Will. God may direct, suggest, send messenger after messenger to warn but will not ever override our Divine Right of Free Will.
Many times I am asked to prove that God exists and I am tempted to quote George Santayana's famous statement that "To those who have no belief, no proof of God is possible and to those who believe, no proof is necessary" Of course, that is exactly correct but it is not the answer these well meaning people are seeking.
Here is my answer-may it bring you peace or at least cause you to ponder. Do you really believe that the incredible Divine architecture of DNA's double helix, the building block of all life, occurs by random chance? Do you really believe that our atomosphere with its perfect combination of nitrogen, helium, oxygen and other trace gases tailor made for human consumption is an accident? When you see a rainbow arching across the sky does not your spirit soar or do you just see water crystals reflecting off sunlight? To believe that the entire creative process; life in all its marvelous wonder and diversity is the result of random chance - that is a preposterous notion.
Our issues with God lies not with God or with His/Her actions or inactions but with our false and childish concepts of God. You have heard me say before that until we grow beyond of our Sunday School parent God, we will never know God, never experience the true love of God and never have a real authentic relationship with our magnificent Creator. We will continue to look to God as our rescuer rather than our constant help and indwelling power. To put it simply, our God is too small.
God is not a superbeing. God is not a big old man in the sky who impregnates females and has human children. That is Greek mythology, not 21st Century theology. God is a Spirit, a Divine Intelligence that is the designer and Creator of all that exists or ever will exist.
God is very personal to those who open their minds and heart to His love but She is impartial in her Grace and in Her blessing of her Creations. God never plays favorites, cannot be bought, does not accept substitutions and always operates in a totally predictable and scientific manner. God does not operate from caprice or whim; that is how humans operate. God does not favor one over the other; that is how humans behave. How then does God interface with us and operate the great machinery of its Creation?
God has instituted a series of Spiritual and Physical Laws that operate this Universe and everything in it. God will always act in accordance with the Laws that She has instituted. You can absolutely depend on God to act in accordance with Physical Law and Spiritual Laws that it has created. Gravity will not work once in a while but all the time. We experience in our outside world what we are inside; not sometimes but every time.
The big debate over Evolution and Creation is a good example of a total misunderstanding of the way God operates and how God has created this Universe. Of course Evolution exists and so does Creation. God Created all life, all substance and uses Evolution to improve and evolve its creations. Evolution is a system designed by God, it is not mere random chance. Evolution is God's modification and adaptation system just as reproduction is God's replication system. There is no conflict between the concept of a Great Intelligence, a Great Mind that Creates and operates the Universe on our behalf and the laws that this great Mind has created to run its Creation.
The important thing to remember is that you and God are one. You are made of one substance, the very stuff of God. Your mind is connected to the Mind of God through the medium of what we often call The Holy Spirit.
You actually have two minds, a lower Mortal Mind we call the Ego and an immortal and higher mind we call the Divine Mind. The Ego causes most of our troubles in life because it denies the existence of the Higher Mind or Divine Mind. It believes only what it receives from the five human senses. The Ego Mind is the original "Show Me State" of being. Because the five senses are notorious for being wrong; the Ego, like the CIA, often gives us faulty intelligence and is just plain wrong!
In fact, I believe that our Ego is what is often called the Devil or the Enemy. It is not another power - there is only one power and presence in the Universe and that is God. It is the absence of power - it is the darkness which is simply the absence of Light. We need the Ego for daily housekeeping and for safeguarding of the body but we should put our focus and our attention on the Divine Mind; that still small voice that always knows the way, always works in our highest and best interest and always acts in love. How often we listen to Mr. Ego and ignore the insistent nudging of our God in us - The Divine Mind that the Most High God has placed in each and every one of us.
Know this: God and you are one. There is no separation. Open your heart, your mind and listen to the voice within. There is always help, always direction. Go to God in every area of your life, pray without ceasing as Paul advised. Talk to God as a friend - She is your friend, in fact He is the Higher You. You are loved beyond your imagining.
Rejoice, God loves you and so do I
Many times I am asked to prove that God exists and I am tempted to quote George Santayana's famous statement that "To those who have no belief, no proof of God is possible and to those who believe, no proof is necessary" Of course, that is exactly correct but it is not the answer these well meaning people are seeking.
Here is my answer-may it bring you peace or at least cause you to ponder. Do you really believe that the incredible Divine architecture of DNA's double helix, the building block of all life, occurs by random chance? Do you really believe that our atomosphere with its perfect combination of nitrogen, helium, oxygen and other trace gases tailor made for human consumption is an accident? When you see a rainbow arching across the sky does not your spirit soar or do you just see water crystals reflecting off sunlight? To believe that the entire creative process; life in all its marvelous wonder and diversity is the result of random chance - that is a preposterous notion.
Our issues with God lies not with God or with His/Her actions or inactions but with our false and childish concepts of God. You have heard me say before that until we grow beyond of our Sunday School parent God, we will never know God, never experience the true love of God and never have a real authentic relationship with our magnificent Creator. We will continue to look to God as our rescuer rather than our constant help and indwelling power. To put it simply, our God is too small.
God is not a superbeing. God is not a big old man in the sky who impregnates females and has human children. That is Greek mythology, not 21st Century theology. God is a Spirit, a Divine Intelligence that is the designer and Creator of all that exists or ever will exist.
God is very personal to those who open their minds and heart to His love but She is impartial in her Grace and in Her blessing of her Creations. God never plays favorites, cannot be bought, does not accept substitutions and always operates in a totally predictable and scientific manner. God does not operate from caprice or whim; that is how humans operate. God does not favor one over the other; that is how humans behave. How then does God interface with us and operate the great machinery of its Creation?
God has instituted a series of Spiritual and Physical Laws that operate this Universe and everything in it. God will always act in accordance with the Laws that She has instituted. You can absolutely depend on God to act in accordance with Physical Law and Spiritual Laws that it has created. Gravity will not work once in a while but all the time. We experience in our outside world what we are inside; not sometimes but every time.
The big debate over Evolution and Creation is a good example of a total misunderstanding of the way God operates and how God has created this Universe. Of course Evolution exists and so does Creation. God Created all life, all substance and uses Evolution to improve and evolve its creations. Evolution is a system designed by God, it is not mere random chance. Evolution is God's modification and adaptation system just as reproduction is God's replication system. There is no conflict between the concept of a Great Intelligence, a Great Mind that Creates and operates the Universe on our behalf and the laws that this great Mind has created to run its Creation.
The important thing to remember is that you and God are one. You are made of one substance, the very stuff of God. Your mind is connected to the Mind of God through the medium of what we often call The Holy Spirit.
You actually have two minds, a lower Mortal Mind we call the Ego and an immortal and higher mind we call the Divine Mind. The Ego causes most of our troubles in life because it denies the existence of the Higher Mind or Divine Mind. It believes only what it receives from the five human senses. The Ego Mind is the original "Show Me State" of being. Because the five senses are notorious for being wrong; the Ego, like the CIA, often gives us faulty intelligence and is just plain wrong!
In fact, I believe that our Ego is what is often called the Devil or the Enemy. It is not another power - there is only one power and presence in the Universe and that is God. It is the absence of power - it is the darkness which is simply the absence of Light. We need the Ego for daily housekeeping and for safeguarding of the body but we should put our focus and our attention on the Divine Mind; that still small voice that always knows the way, always works in our highest and best interest and always acts in love. How often we listen to Mr. Ego and ignore the insistent nudging of our God in us - The Divine Mind that the Most High God has placed in each and every one of us.
Know this: God and you are one. There is no separation. Open your heart, your mind and listen to the voice within. There is always help, always direction. Go to God in every area of your life, pray without ceasing as Paul advised. Talk to God as a friend - She is your friend, in fact He is the Higher You. You are loved beyond your imagining.
Rejoice, God loves you and so do I
posted by Rev. Dore' Jacques Patlian at
8:41 PM
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